Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued more than 1,100 visas to foreign nationals in 2025 on the grounds that they hold “traditional Russian values,” a senior official said Tuesday, marking the first full year of a program designed to attract conservative Westerners.
The “humanitarian support” initiative, which President Vladimir Putin approved in August 2024, allows citizens of the U.S., the EU and several other countries to apply for special visas if they oppose what Moscow characterizes as the “destructive neoliberal ideological agenda” in their home nations.
Of the 1,112 “traditional values” visas issued worldwide last year, EU citizens accounted for more than half, with 577 recipients, according to Alexei Klimov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s consular department.
Citizens from Germany, France, Italy, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all ranked in the top 10 of recipients.
U.S. citizens were among the top three national groups with 105 visas issued, which, alongside 54 Canadian recipients, placed North America’s share at 15% of the global total, Klimov said.
The visas act as a fast-track entry point to permanent residency and eventual Russian citizenship. They grant immediate work rights and access to state social benefits while bypassing the standard requirements for Russian language, history and legal proficiency exams.
Earlier this month at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, architect Anton Gilkin outlined plans to establish a town in the Nizhny Novgorod region designed to house 450 European families relocating under the “traditional values” program.
